Dan's Story Vol1
by LegendaryPotatoGuy
Summary: Sword Art Online, the most advanced MMO ever has launched. However, we all know the story of how the Black Swordsman defeated the last boss and cleared the game. This is someone else's story. This is Dan's Story. The first volume in the Dan's Story Saga.
1. Welcome to my World

**A/N: Hello, and welcome to the long-awaited, but probably not, reboot of Dan's Story! *Cue Confetti and Cheering*. Now, you may have read one or two chapters and quit, and are now wondering what is the point of this. Well, due to several reasons, I have decided to reboot this. If you want clarification, go read the last chapter of the original. Anyway, I would like it if you would consider this, an entirely separate entity from the original before judging it. I have improved in my writing skills and I have heavily improved this story from that one, which looking back on was bad. So, without further adue, let's begin this reboot.**

 **Chapter One - Welcome to my World**

 **November/6** **th** **/2022**

 **Dan**

 _Let's see, one wire goes in here, the cartridge slides into the slot._ I stand back and made sure everything was correctly plugged in and placed. After confirming this, I go downstairs. The game wouldn't launch for another hour anyway.

On the table, was a toasted croissant with a sticky note next to it. _Hope you enjoy your game - Mom._ I love her so much. I take the croissant of the table and take a bite out of it. My mother makes the best croissants. We normally don't eat croissants, rather going for some Ramen or Takoyaki, but something else from time to time is fine.

After finishing my lunch, I head upstairs and prepare for full dive. I pick up my cat and place him outside, lock my door and grab the helmet placed on my desk. A small _NVG_ is printed on the helmet. I sit in my desk chair and place the helmet on my head. In the corner of my vision, I see a clock affirming the time. 1:00. Everyone should be signing into the game now. I close my eyes and say those fateful words.

"Link Start!"

My vision goes to black. My view suddenly goes white as rainbow ring files towards me. A few circles appear with the senses on them. It confirms them. The Nerve Gear is just connecting to my senses, nothing to be worried about. Once the my senses are connected, the circles slide away and a login screen appears.

I've already created my account so I enter the details. After confirming them a message appears. _No character data found, creating a new character._ A randomized avatar appears before me. It's not exactly to my liking. I change some of the details to make it a bit more pleasing.

 _Change the hair color, make the eyes smaller, adjust that terrible nose_. I make sure the character looks good. I am staring at a tall green spiked hair person with thin orange eyes and a long sword strapped to its back.

This looks good to me so I click the accept button. _Are you sure?_ I click the yes button and another message appears. _Creating Character..._ A little dial spins below it. I guess I have to wait.

This message closes in favour of another one. _Please name your character._ I have a little think about this and enter a name I find more suitable. _Is Dan okay?_ I click the yes button. _Character Created. Loading Sword Art Online._

I click the button and my vision turns grey. ' _Welcome to Sword Art Online'_ appears before me. A ring of blue then flies towards me and my vision is turned white. Blackness.

A HP bar appears in the top left of my vision. It displays my name, my level, and my Health Points. I open my eyes and I see a vast fantasy city. I hold my hand in front of my face and look at it. It is incredibly detailed. I reach for my back and feel the hilt of a long sword. This definitely Sword Art Online. The first VRMMORPG.

I look around and see people all around me. It feels like I'm actually there. Though I guess the Nerve Gear is to thank for that. I don't understand all the science-y stuff about it, but I know it connects to your brain to allow it to essentially put you in a character's body and explore the world as yourself. It's pretty high tech.

Just at midnight last night, I picked up my Nerve Gear and Sword Art Online combo from the local game store and took it home. So I haven't gotten the chance to play it till now. Though I guess I was lucky, as there is only 10 000 copies of SAO floating around right now. Though, I guess there are 1000 luckier people who got in on the Beta Test.

OK, I should probably start playing the game now. I mean, we're already 668 words in, and we're haven't even experienced any proper SAO Gameplay. I start walking forward when I stumble a bit. I should have probably listened to the beta testers and set it to my actual height. Oh well, I can always create a new character later.

I pick myself up and begin heading out towards the field. Then I notice the BGM. My god, it's beautifully orchestrated. If only I also got the SAO soundtrack so I could listen to this whenever I want.

I arrive into the field and the BGM switches to a more action-based one. I remember hearing this in the promotional material. I think it's called 'Swordland'. I take a few more steps and notice a boar. I unsheathe my sword and prepare for battle. I run towards the boar with a battle cry. It notices this and dashes towards me. I swing at the boar, and miss. It hits me and I fall over, losing a bit of health points. My HP bar heads into the yellow.

I get up and this time, let the boar come to me. As it comes towards me, I swing at it. I miss again and am hit. It currently looks like Boar: 2, Me: 0, but I am determined to beat this. I swing multiple times and keep missing. I finally land a small strike on it. This pissed it off. It dashes towards me and hits, putting me in the red zone of my health. Dammit, I just begun and I'm already nearly dead.

I stand up and the boar dashes towards me. But, before it gets close, a clean cut hits it. This wipes out most of its HP. I look up and see a blonde guy wielding an axe.

"You need some help?" he asks.

"No, I was handling it" I replied.

He chuckles and says "Look, just don't blindly attack, activate your sword skills". I forgot about Sword Skills. This was the most basic mechanic of SAO. If you hold your weapon right, it will activate a skill allowing you to attack the enemy with a combo. I activate one of the most well know Sword Skills by holding the sword to my right. It glows a light blue. The boar dashes towards me and I activate the skill. My sword slices cleanly through the boar. The boar's HP bar is diminished. It freezes before blowing up into millions of polygons.

"Thanks for the tips" I said.

"No Problem, always good to help someone out" he replies.

"I'm Dan" I say as I hold my hand out. He smiles and takes my hand.

"Nice to meet ya, I'm Jareo" he answers back.

We sit down in a small restaurant back in the city.

"So, you know a beta tester" I try to confirm.

Jareo smiles and says "Yep, we go to the same High School together, unfortunately, he wasn't able to play today due to his job".

"I see, so you know a bit about the game" I say. A NPC comes over to us and places two drinks in front of us. She bows and walks away.

"Yeah, I guess you could say I have second hand beta knowledge" he replies.

"So, could you help me? I only know what I've read" I ask.

"Sure, I've got nothing else to do." He picks up his cup and takes a sip out of it. "We should probably start by checking your stats. Open your menu".

"OK, one question" I say.

"Lemme guess, you don't know how to open your menu" he replies. I sulk my head in defeat and he laughs. "Just take your index and middle finger on your right hand, push them together, and slide down."

I do what he says and a white menu appears in front of me. In the menu appears a blank mannequin, with stats below it and a few circles next to it. I think those take me to different parts of the menu. "Let's see I'm Level One with 15 XP, 435 away from Level 2, I have 1 strength and 1 speed, I also have one point to one-handed sword with a little bar below it filled up about a quarter of the way." I say. That was a bit of an info dump.

"Okay, you should probably focus on raising your One-Handed Sword Skill, and based on how you were attacking earlier, I would recommend you also work on raising you speed stat" said Jareo.

I take that in and we talk. Little did we know a few hours had passed. "So, you have a pet cat" confirms Jareo.

"Yep, Don Fluffles is quite a cheeky cat" I say. I open my menu and check the time. "Oh My God! It's already Five!" I exclaim.

"Oh, so I guess it is. You Have something to do?" asked Jareo.

"My Mom asked me to hop of at Four Thirty to prepare dinner, she's going to kill me" I complain.

"Dude, It's okay, just add me to your friends list and we'll see each other another time. Hell, I might even bring my Beta Buddy along" he says. He then leads me through the process of Adding Friends.

"Okay, see you later" I say. He nods and opens his menu. I slide open my menu and head to the log out tab. "Um, Jareo, the log out button should be in the settings section, right?" I try to confirm.

"Yeah, It's there alright" he confirms. I stand there to process this.

"Could you check your settings quickly? I want to confirm something" I ask. He clicks through some tabs, arriving at the settings. He scrolls down and stops.

"Where is the logout button?" he questions. This confirms it. In front of me, where the logout button should be, is a blank slate.

"Is this some kind of mix-up?" I ask.

"No, this is definitely some major bug" he replies.

I close my menu and turn to him.

"We should probably try and talk to an Admin" I say. Jareo nods and slides through some menus. We wait for a few minutes. "What is taking them so long?" I question.

"This bug has probably affected multiple people, they are probably being flooded with calls" said Jareo. We sit there, and sit there, and sit there.

"What do you think happened?" I ask him.

"I think they probably removed the logout button by accident and are working to reinstate it, which may take a few hours" he states.

"Why don't we just boot ourselves off" I say.

"The only way to logout is with the logout button, you can't move your body in the real world" he says. We suddenly hear bells. "What's that?" Jareo asks. I am then surrounded by a column of light. When it fades, I am standing in the town plaza with other people being teleported in around me. Jareo is next to me.

"What's going on here?!" I ask.

"I have no Idea!" he replies.

There is confusion on all of the faces around us. Some are shocked.

"Look!"I hear someone yell. I look around and notice something in the sky. It is a small red hexagon. It says _Warning!_ The hexagons begin filling the sky with messages such as _Warning!_ and _System Message._ The hexagons have soon filled the entire sky.

A small blood-like liquid starts pouring out of the hexagons. The substance lowers and lowers, before stopping a few meters above the ground. It bends and morphs before it turns into a hooded figure. At the end of the sleeves are gloves attached to nothing, and there is no face below the hood.

"Why is that thing wearing a GM Uniform?" questions Jareo. The hooded figure slowly raises its arms.

"Welcome to my World, dear players" said the man in the hood. He has a calm, deep voice. "My name is Akihiko Kayaba. As of this moment, I am the only human being alive with control over this world".

This was a complete shock. This was Akihiko Kayaba, the head of Argus, and the lead programmer on SAO. What was he doing here? Was he planning to explain the missing logout button?

"You have likely noticed by now that the logout button has disappeared from the main menu. This is not a bug. I repeat, this is not a bug - It is a feature of Sword Art Online". What did he mean? 'A feature', what does a missing logout button have to do with that? But he isn't done.

"From, this point onward, you will be unable to freely logout of the game until the summit of this castle is conquered" Castle? Unable to freely logout? There are even more questions now.

"Furthermore, the Nerve Gear cannot be removed or shut down via external means. If forceful means of exit are attempted..." That pause is filling me with dread. "The high-powered microwaves emitted by the Nerve Gear will scramble your brain and shut down your vital processes".

You didn't need to be a scientist to understand that. Someone else taking of the Nerve Gear would kill you. I hope my Mom doesn't unplug my Nerve Gear.

"To be more specific, the brain-frying sequence will commence upon any of the following circumstances: ten minutes of no external power, two hours of network disconnection; removal, dismantling, or destruction of the Nerve Gear. The authorities and media in the outside world have already announced the details of these conditions to the general public." Good, that means I shouldn't die for the time being.

"At present, the friends and family of several players have already ignored these warnings and attempted to forcefully remove their Nerve Gears, the result being that sadly, two hundred and thirteen players have already been permanently retired from both Aincrad and the real world".

213 people are dead. They were all players of this game. That would leave the player count at 9787. But he still had more.

"There is no need to worry about your physical bodies back in the real world. The current state of the game and today's fatalities have been covered far and wide on television, radio, and the Internet. The danger that someone will forcefully remove your Nerve Gear is already much diminished. The two-hour offline period should provide enough time for your physical bodies to be transported to hospitals and other long-term care facilities with proper security, eliminating concerns over your physical well-being. You may rest assured...and focus on conquering the game."

What does he mean conquer the game? Does he mean beat it? This is a MMO, how long would that take?

"However, please proceed with caution. As of this moment, Sword Art Online is no longer a game to you. It is another reality. The standard means of player resurrection will no longer function as they previously did. When your hit points dwindle to zero, your avatar will be permanently deleted..."

I could practically call what he was about to say.

"...and the Nerve Gear will destroy your brain."

"That's crazy talk" said Jareo. If we die in game, we die in real life? Is that the gist of it? That's impossible! You have to die in RPGs to learn how to play them, you are making it way to difficult.

"There is only one condition through which you can be free from this game. Simply reach the hundredth floor at the pinnacle of Aincrad and defeat the final boss who awaits you there. In that instant, all surviving players will be able to safely logout once again."

Aincrad? That's where the game takes place. Is that the castle he talked about. A voice cut through the silence.

"Clear the hundredth floor?" "W-we can't possibly do that! I hear the entire group of beta testers barely got through the very start of the game!"

"He's right, the highest anyone got was the tenth floor" confirmed Jareo to me. Kayaba continued.

"Finally, let me prove to you that this world is now your one and only reality. I've prepared a gift for all of you. You may find it in your item storage."

I slide open my menu and head to my inventory. In it is an item that wasn't there before, _'Hand Mirror'._ I tapped the materialize button and the mirror appeared in my hands. I looked into it and saw my avatars reflection in the mirror. I heard a flash and looked around and saw people being surrounded by columns of light. I was also surrounded by people I have never seen before.

"Who are you?" asked a person behind me. I turned around and saw Jareo. He had a few differences but he was pretty much the same. Wait, did I shrink? I looked in the mirror, and saw something else, my actual self. "Are you Dan?" Jareo asks.

"Yes, it's me, and I mean _me_ " I reply.

"He made us look like ourselves?" Jareo asked.

"By the looks of it" I say.

"I think he has something else to say said Jareo. I look back up at Kayaba.

"You are likely asking yourselves, why? Why would Akihiko Kayaba, developer of SAO and the Nerve Gear unit, do such a thing? Is it an act of terrorism? An elaborate kidnapping to extract ransom money?"

"What I seek is neither of these things. I have no goals or justifications at this moment. In fact, this very situation was my ultimate goal. I created the Nerve Gear and SAO precisely in order to build this world and observe it. I now have achieved that aim".

"This concludes the tutorial phase of Sword Art Online. I wish you the best of luck, dear players". Kayaba slowly raised into the messages disappearing. The messages then disappeared. Silence. Then panic.

I follow my instincts. I run. If this is my reality, I must be my real self, a loner. Besides, this may be the last chapter of my story.

 **Boom, only half a day after announcing the reboot, it is launched for everyone to read. So, if you did read all the way to the end of this, thank you so much. It really means a lot to have someone read this out of over 3 thousand other SAO Fanfiction. So, remember how I said that Dan would be inspired from the protagonists of A Bridge to Wiseman's Cove and First Person Shooter, well, I really didn't get the chance to showcase it in this chapter as It is just the beginning.**

 **I hope you got the Don Fluffles reference I put in there. I was unsure if I should, but I decided to and I don't regret it.**

 **Anyway, please review if you have the time. I would like to know what I got right and what I got wrong. So, bye.**

 _-Adro02_


	2. Update

"Hey, Important Update" I say.

"Yes, first person author talking" I continue to say.

"Okay, this should make it a story"

 **Whew, better. Hey, everyone. I have some important updates. I mean, you do deserve something.**

 **New Username:**

 **I am now, LegendaryPotatoGuy across everything. I'm changing all my names.**

 **Stories:**

 **My next updates will be on Total Drama Resort and on Death Note Rewritten, nothing here will change.**

 **Notice:**

 **Due to overload, I am ending some stories. However, they will just get a sped up ending. And any preplanned sequels have been cut. Sorry to the guys over on Total Drama Advance and Defence Doom. But there will be proper endings. Defence Doom will end with case five being made case three and Advance will have a three part finale coming up.**

 **More of me:**

 **I now stream on twitch with a more constant schedule. If you want too see me over there, go over to twitch and search up LegendaryPotatoGuy. It will come up.**

 **RWBY Q &A**

 **This is on hiatus while we figure out everything.**

 **That's it. Thanks for listening**


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